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President Trump took bold and decisive action in the best interests of the American people when he declared a national emergency Friday to enable construction of a badly needed barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border to stymie human trafficking, drug trafficking and criminal crossings.

The president’s move is a dramatic contrast to the radical position of Democrats supporting open borders and the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, a vital law enforcement organization that protects our national security.

President Trump’s national emergency declaration is well within his executive authority. Along with other executive action and a new spending bill passed by Congress, it will permit him to reallocate and aggregate $8.1 billion in funding for a barrier along our southern border

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Under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, the president can declare an emergency for just about anything. As President Trump has considered using that authority to circumvent Congress and build a wall along the Southern border, that near-unlimited presidential power has gotten a lot of attention. But it isn’t the whole story.

“It was a lever that we had,” said George Miller, the former Democratic congressman from California. “We decided to use it.”

It was 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when President George W. Bush issued a proclamation saying government contractors could pay workers less than usual for recovery-related projects. He justified it by saying the conditions caused by Katrina constituted a “national emergency” and waiving federal wage requirement would “result in greater assistance to these devastated communities” and “permit the employment of thousands of additional individuals.”

In a tweet, Omar accused the president of discrimination against “Jews, Muslims, Indigenous, immigrants, black people and more,” adding that she learned from “people impacted” by comments she made that many, including fellow Democrats, called anti-Semitic.

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Washington (CNN)The US and South Korea have reached a preliminary agreement on the cost of keeping nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea, two State Department officials said, alleviating fears among President Donald Trump’s advisers that he could move to withdraw US troops during his upcoming summit with North Korea’s leader.

Under the revised Special Measures Agreement, South Korea would boost its financial contribution to nearly $1 billion, according to a State Department official and South Korean media. That’s an increase on the about $800 million South Korea had been paying per year during the previous five-year commitment.

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The invitation from Pelosi comes after a planned January 29 date to give the address was scuttled due to the partial government shutdown. That led to a contentious back-and-forthbetween Trump and the House speaker before the president announced a deal to reopen the government on January 25.

“When I wrote to you on January 23rd, I stated that we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has reopened to schedule this year’s State of the Union address,” Pelosi wrote in her new invitation to Trump. “In our conversation today, we agreed on February 5th.

“Therefore, I invite you to deliver your State of the Union address before a Joint Session of Congress on February 5, 2019 in the House Chamber.”

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President Trump on Friday signed a short-term spending bill to re-open the government, ending the longest partial federal government shutdown in U.S. history. Trump signed the stop-gap spending bill just hours after the measure passed the Senate and House, respectively.

“On Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, the president signed into law: H.J. Res. 28, the ‘Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019,’ which includes a short-term continuing resolution that provides fiscal year 2019 appropriations through Feb. 15, 2019, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government included in the remaining seven appropriations bills,” the White House said in a statement late Friday. “Also included in the enrolled bill are provisions regarding retroactive pay and reimbursement, and extensions of certain authorities.”

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WASHINGTON — President Trump said late Wednesday that he would deliver his State of the Union address once the federal government reopens, capping a day of brinkmanship with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told the president that he was not welcome to deliver the speech in the House chamber while the government is partly closed.

“As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter shortly after 11 p.m., hours after he had said he would look for another venue for the speech. “I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative – I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over.”

The president’s seeming capitulation came even as House Democratic leaders said they were prepared to give him a substantial sum of money for border security — perhaps even the $5.7 billion he has requested — but not for a wall and not until he agreed to reopen the government. That figure is roughly double what Democrats had previously approved.

On the other end of the Capitol, in the Republican-controlled Senate, lawmakers prepared for crucial votes Thursday on two competing proposals — one backed by Mr. Trump and Senate Republicans, the other by Democrats — that would bring an end to the partial shutdown, though neither might garner the 60 votes necessary for passage.

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Democrats have the opportunity to show the world which matters more to them: handing a defeat to President Trump or helping the people they care about, such as refugees, immigrants in the U.S. illegally since childhood, and federal workers.

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President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un are expected to have their next summit in Vietnam, according to Bloomberg. “LATEST: The next Trump/Kim Jong Un summit will be in VIETNAM, sources tell me and @nwadhams. High-level talks have focused on Hanoi, Danang, Ho Chi Minh City. Things could change, of course. But the Trump admin plan right now is for Vietnam,” Jacobs tweeted shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday. Jacobs’ tweet echoes South Korean media reports some two weeks ago that they would chose Vietnam’s capital for their second face-to-face sit-down, which other reports say will be in February.

DEVELOPING: President Trump is expected to publicly outline a new proposal at 4 p.m. ET that would trade three years of protections for “Dreamers” in exchange for $5.7B to build a wall along the southern border; Democrats preparing to reject the offer. https://nbcnews.to/2FIu9k1

Trump expected to offer shutdown deal, Dems expected to reject it

“This is not a compromise as it includes the same wasteful, ineffective $5.7 billion wall demand that shut down the government in the first place,” one Democratic aide said.

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Speaker Pelosi: “Unfortunately, initial reports make clear that his proposal is a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total, do not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people’s lives.”

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Standing before leaders in all three branches of the federal government, Trump will have at least an hour to explain the need for a wall to advance broader border security, the rule of law, and national security and to prevent crime and control deadly drugs. Trump repeatedly can point to his guests in the House gallery who will embody his points.